Fair Game: valuing the bio-cultural heritage of fallow deer and their venison for food security, sustainable woodlands and biodiversity

休闲鹿是英国景观的象征，也是该岛生物文化遗产的重要组成部分。它们原产于地中海，但在过去的2,000年里，它们被多次引入英国。它们现在比过去任何时候都多，过度放牧，禁止林地再生，损害了它们人口的福利和更广泛的生物多样性。鹿的扑杀受到争议，但目前是唯一可行的人口管理策略。由于缺乏训练，而且年轻一代对捕杀鹿有负面的看法，猎鹿者正在减少。事实上，对负面宣传的恐惧是鹿管理组织的一个担忧，这进一步压制了关于这一主题的讨论。对鹿宰杀和鹿肉消费的文化厌恶体现在国家食品战略中，该战略将野生动物视为人类消费之外。因此，大多数野生鹿肉被丢弃或以低价出口。相比之下，超市里的鹿肉价格昂贵，而且一般都是从远在新西兰的鹿场采购的。政府资助的鹿行动计划（1995-2020）和DEFRA的2022年鹿管理咨询都强调，野生鹿肉是负担得起的、健康的、高福利的、可持续的，是必要的鹿扑杀的副产品。然而，这一信息并没有与公众联系起来。我们的AHRC资助的项目Dama International产生了缺失的叙述，将休闲鹿管理置于情境中，并以一种引人入胜的方式呈现出来。它表明，现代休闲鹿是公元1000年左右作为中世纪狩猎文化的一部分建立的种群的后代。该物种主要由妇女狩猎，鹿的尸体被仪式性地屠宰或“未加工”，鹿肉在整个社会重新分配，以促进社区凝聚力。为了保护鹿肉的供应，休养生息的鹿被管理在公园里，顶级捕食者（熊和狼）被消灭。渐渐地，狩猎和鹿肉不再流行，休闲鹿逃离了公园，在没有顶级掠食者的情况下，它们的数量迅速增长。从本质上讲，现代的休闲鹿问题是中世纪时期的遗留问题。公平游戏将使用苏塞克斯作为一个概念验证地区，以展示达玛国际的研究如何为鹿管理的棘手问题提供解决方案。我们将通过以下方式恢复中世纪式的休闲猎鹿、尸体加工和鹿肉再分配：针对年轻人和女性，通过提供鹿管理和狩猎卫生课程，为猎鹿者培养更多样化的人群。建立鹿肉尸体储存和供应的公共基础设施创建一个新的“Virtuous Venison”品牌，通过食品慈善机构FareShare进行再分配。（动画电影和弹出式展览），解释了休耕鹿的历史，考虑到生物多样性危机、生活成本危机和对食品银行日益增长的需求，公平游戏不仅是及时的，而且在道德和环境方面也是合理的。我们相信公平游戏将改变公众的理解，并最终改变该部门对鹿的管理方法。

Fallow deer are an icon of the British landscape and an important part of the island's bio-cultural heritage. They are native to the Mediterranean but, over the last 2,000 years, have been repeatedly introduced to Britain. They are now more numerous than at any point in the past and are overgrazing landscapes and prohibiting woodland regeneration, to the detriment of their population's welfare and broader biodiversity.Deer culling is contested but is currently the only viable population management strategy. Deer stalkers are in decline due to lack of training and because younger generations have a negative perception of deer culling. Indeed, fear of negative publicity is a concern for deer management organisations, which further suppresses discourse on the subject.The cultural distaste for deer culling and venison consumption is exemplified by the National Food Strategy, which regards wild animals as outside of human consumption. For this reason, most wild venison is discarded or exported at a low price. By contrast supermarket venison is expensive and generally sourced from deer farms located as far away as New Zealand.Both the government-funded Deer Initiative (1995-2020) and DEFRA's 2022 consultation on deer management stressed that wild venison is affordable, healthy, high-welfare, sustainable and a by-product of necessary deer culling. Yet this messaging has not connected with the general public.Our AHRC-funded project Dama International generated the missing narrative to contextualise fallow deer management and present it in an engaging and palatable way. It demonstrated that modern fallow deer descend from populations established ~1000 AD as part of a medieval hunting culture. The species was hunted primarily by women and deer carcasses were ritually butchered, or 'unmade', and venison redistributed throughout society to facilitate community cohesion. To protect venison supplies, fallow deer were managed in parks and top predators (bears and wolves) were eradicated. Gradually, hunting and venison fell out of fashion, fallow deer escaped from parks and, in the absence of top predators their populations burgeoned. In essence the modern fallow deer problem is a legacy of the medieval period.Fair Game will use Sussex as a proof-of-concept region to demonstrate how Dama International's research can provide solutions to the intractable problems of deer management. We will do this by resuscitating medieval-style approaches to fallow deer hunting, carcass processing and venison redistribution by:Fostering a more diverse demographic for deer stalkers by providing deer management and game hygiene courses, aimed at younger people and women.Establishing communal infrastructure for the storage and supply of venison carcassesCreating a new 'Virtuous Venison' brand for redistribution via the food charity FareShare.Providing an engaging communication strategy (animated film and pop-up exhibitions) that explains the history of fallow deer, the need to cull them and the societal benefits of their venison.Fair Game is not only timely given the biodiversity crisis, cost of living crisis and rising demand for food banks but is justifiable on ethical and environmental grounds. We believe Fair Game will transform public understanding and ultimately the sector's approach to deer management.